Malawi News Online (29) - 05/7/97

MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE/MALAWI NEWS ONLINE

A fortnightly update of news from Malawi

Edition # 29 7 May 1997

MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is written by Malawian journalists
in Malawi and brings you the news from their point
of view. It is assembled and edited in Denmark by South
Africa Contact, the former anti-apartheid movement,
publishers of i'Afrika, a quarterly magazine on Southern
Africa.

The fortnightly news updates from Malawi are provided
by our established network of journalists in Southern
Africa. ZAMBIA NEWS ONLINE and TANZANIA NEWS ONLINE
are our latest newsletters and they will be followed,
in the not too distant future, by individual news updates
covering other Southern African countries,.

MALAWI NEWS ONLINE is brought to you by a co-operation
between South Africa Contact and Inform, the leading
alternative information network in Denmark.

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In this edition:

Feature:

THE DISMANTLING OF BANDA'S ECONOMIC EMPIRE

Stories :

1. Ex-president Banda discharged in fraud case

2. UDF Secretary General to appear in court on defamation
charges

3. Improved tobacco prices on Auction Floors

4. Muluzi blames strike on opposition

5. Police increase action against strikers

6. Seven die in mini-bus accident

7. British couple murdered

8. MHC loses case on rents

9. National soccer coach dismissed

THE DISMANTLING OF BANDA'S ECONOMIC EMPIRE

If former president Kamuzu Banda did not fulfil all
legal requirements pertaining to the acquisition of
his business undertakings while he ruled the country,
he might eventually find himself cash-strapped and
'stripped to the flesh' as the ruling UDF-led government
goes on dismantling the remaining bastions of his economic
empire.

First to be targeted for dispossession or nationalisation
by the present government was the huge and largely
successful trading conglomerate, the Press Trust, which
until 1995 was widely believed to be Dr Banda's private
business enterprise. It was Aleke Banda, Finance Minister,
who once headed Press Corporation Limited, who convinced
parliament that Dr Banda fraudulently turned to personal
ownership an organisation founded with public funds.
To this effect, he moved a motion in parliament to
reconstruct the Press Trust Act. Naturally, the motion
received heavy protests from the opposition Malawi
Congress Party.

Even before the dust had completely settled over the
wrangling on the Press Trust issue, the beleaguered
former dictator was slapped with what Director of Public
Prosecutions, Kamudoni Nyasulu termed a master fraud
case involving K137 million (U$9.1 million) from the
Press Trust. Nyasulu argues that the money was drawn
on the pretext that it was going to be used in the
construction and running of the Kamuzu Academy, the
grammar school that Dr Banda built in his home district
of Kasungu. The Kamuzu Academy is also believed to
have been constructed and run with funds from Dr Banda's
personal finances.

The latest development concerning Dr Banda's assets
is the reallocation of 2,000 acres of land in south
Malawi to the ordinary people. This, according to the
UDF, is because while Banda ruled he dispossessed or
grabbed from the ordinary folk this huge chunk of land
knowing they could 'not say no to a life president.'
Dr Banda never obtained a lease on the land.

Fachi told the nation on May 4 that acting on powers
vested in him as Lands and Valuation minister, he had
directed that the disputed land on which Banda established
a cattle ranch be distributed to the ordinary people.
Following the directive, Dr Banda will lose annual
profits to the tune of K15 million (U$ 1 million) from
the cattle raising business.

"The country is systematically witnessing the stripping
naked of a once powerful personality whose influence
in Malawi could be felt from thousands of kilometres
away," said an observer who did not want to be
named nor say which side he favours in the on-going
strike.

While the MCP wishes to undertake a campaign to prove
that Dr Banda never grabbed any piece of land from
people in the lower Shire by force, leaders in the
ruling camp are also determined to see to it that their
viewpoint emerges victorious.

A race has thus been started by both camps to win the
support of the local populace in the area. On May 5,
Fachi was in his land of birth in the lower Shire where
he told the people there that Dr Banda had been given
two weeks, starting May 5, to dismantle his ranch and
either move the 2,000 strong herd of cattle to another
area, or to auction or slaughter them. The land, said
Fachi, would be given to those who owned it before
Dr Banda grabbed it from them in 1978 when the ranch
was established.

"We cannot have one man owning 2,000 acres of land
in an area where many people have nothing at all,"
said Fachi.

1. Ex-president Banda discharged in fraud case

Kamuzu Banda has been discharged from a K137 million
(U$ 9.13 million) fraud court case when the judge said
that the ailing 99-year old would be unfit to attend
court.

Judge Duncan Tambala said 6 April: "Our constitution
provides that the right to a fair trial includes the
right to adduce and challenge evidence and the right
to be tried during his presence."

The others accused in the case, John Tembo, Cecilia
Kadzamira, and former Louis Chimango, all put in not
guilty pleas to theft and conversion of funds charges
relating to the Press Trust.

2. UDF Secretary general to appear in court on defamation
charges

United Democratic Front (UDF) Secretary General, Sam
Mpasu, who is awaiting a court verdict on the 1994
Fieldyork notebook scam, has earned himself another
lawsuit for accusing Women's World Bank Malawi Affiliate
Executive Director that she was using the organisation's
resources to unseat the incumbent head of state in
the next elections.

The lawsuit follows the publication of a letter Mpasu
wrote to President Bakili Muluzi, alleging that Mary
Nyandovi-Kerr was using WWB's money for personal use
and ambition, included in which were her aspirations
to the presidency. The letter also accuses Kerr of
allegedly making disparaging remarks about Muluzi's
educational qualifications. She had said that they
were "not good enough".

Muluzi responded to the letter saying as a result of
the allegations he had instructed the Reserve Bank
of Malawi, which has been one of WWB's credit lines,
to scrap the organisation from the central bank's list
of participating institutions in the Small and Medium
Enterprise Fund.

Nyandovi-Kerr has denied the allegations saying they
were baseless and aimed at crippling her reputation.

Nyandovi-Kerr fell out of favour in UDF mainstream politics
when she stood as an independent candidate in the 1994
general elections which pitted her against a fellow
UDF bigwig for a parliamentary seat in a Zomba (South
Malawi) constituency. She lost the seat.

3. Improved tobacco prices on Auction Floors

Tobacco prices improved on the third day of recent sales
in the capital, Lilongwe, to the relief of both farmers
and officials. Tobacco is Malawi's biggest foreign
exchange earner.

Tobacco sold at an average price of U$2.15 per kilogramme
up from US1.60 per kilogramme on the first two days
of sales. Farmers, unhappy with the low prices offered
by buyers on April 15 and 16 caused a stir at the floors
as they went on the rampage scattering tobacco in protest
against the prices.

Government expected 115 million kilogrammes of burley
tobacco and about 15 million kilogrammes of dark fired
tobacco.

General Manager for the Tobacco Control Commission Dr
Godfrey Chapola said although the country experienced
heavy rains this year, the tobacco that had been brought
to the Auction Floors had been dry and of good quality.

Sales in Blantyre and Mzuzu started April 21 and May
5, respectively.

4. Muluzi blames strike on opposition

President Bakili Muluzi has accused the opposition Alliance
for Democracy (Aford) for fuelling the on-going strike
by civil servants in order to gain political mileage.

The allegation is contained in a letter which Muluzi
wrote to the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
(LO-Norway) in response to concerns raised by that
organisation over the harassment of civil servants
trade union members by the Malawi police.

Muluzi, who only on April 26 made an impassioned plea
for unity in the country, claims that the vast majority
of the civil servants in south and central Malawi had
abandoned the strike because, he alleged, they did
not agree with what the trade union leaders were doing.

"It is only in the Northern Region where the Alliance
for Democracy (Aford), is desperately trying to hijack
the strike that acts of violence by civil servants
on fellow civil servants are continuing," Muluzi
alleged.

LO-Norway wrote Muluzi expressing its concern about
reports of police brutality against striking civil
servants who have been on strike for four weeks now.
Muluzi, however, claimed that Lo-Norway was largely
misinformed about the strike saying the civil servants
were refusing to accept the most historic pay rise
given to them ranging from 10 to 47 percent.

Aford has dismissed the allegations saying Muluzi was
well aware of what had caused the strike. Aford's publicity
secretary Dan Msowoya said Aford was the party that
championed democracy in the fight for political pluralism
in Malawi and could not now contradict itself by destroying
the very tenets of democracy it fought for.

5. Police increase action against strikers

Police in all the country's three regions have stepped
up their action against the striking civil servants,
resorting to teargas, allegedly beating some of the
strikers and arresting others. Acting on orders from
the Inspector General of Police, Patrick Chikapa, to
deal with the strikers participating in demonstrations,
police in the commercial city of Blantyre, the administrative
capital Lilongwe and the northern city of Mzuzu, allegedly
beat up and arrested union leaders for organising the
demonstrations.

The civil servants want government to implement the
Chatsika Report which recommends civil servants salary
increments and an improvement in their working conditions.
The civil servants have rejected salary rises ranging
from 47% for the lowest paid to 10% for the highest
paid civil servants.

Teachers, who have been on holiday since the strike
started four weeks ago, joined their fellow civil servants
April 29 and called for the speedy implementation
of the Teaching Service Commission. In Lilongwe, several
teachers who were demonstrating peacefully were bitten
by police dogs which were let loose by police. So far
government has shown no willingness to come to the
negotiating table with the union leaders.

6. 7 die in mini-bus accident

Seven people died April 28 when a Blantyre-Lilongwe
mini-bus overturned in Ntcheu, central Malawi. Police
in Ntcheu said five of the victims died on the spot
while two were pronounced dead on arrival at Ntcheu
hospital. They said several more people were injured
in the accident which happened after the driver of
the mini-bus failed to negotiate a corner at Njolomole.

In another incident, a 16 year old girl committed suicide
on the same day over a love affair. The Chichiri Secondary
schoolgirl, Emma Mutuku, who was said to have been
pregnant committed suicide allegedly after she discovered
that her boy friend had a relationship with another
girl at the same school. Her grief-stricken grandmother
said Emma killed herself by swallowing five packets
of rat poison.

7. British couple murdered

A British couple, resident in Malawi, was murdered in
neighbouring Mozambique on or about April 13 while
on their way to Malawi from Zimbabwe.

Andrew and Carloyn McDown, who were teaching at Bishop
Macknenzie School in the capital Lilongwe met their
fate on the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Marilyn Bennet, Information Officer at the British
High Commission in Lilongwe, said on April 20 that
investigations were underway jointly between the Maputo
government and her country's embassy in Mozambique.

8. MHC loses case on rents

The Malawi Housing Corporation, the country's housing
utility company, has lost a major lawsuit against its
tenants on the corporation's decision to hike rentals
on its housing units aimed at making it operate on
a commercial basis.

The High Court ruled on April 27 that the MHC, which
raised rents by more than 100%, violated Section 7
of the Malawi Housing Act which states that the organisation
is a non-profit making entity.

The MHC increased rents in April 1996 by more than 100%
in a bid to make the institution operate on a commercial
basis and to enable the organisation to put up more
housing units as well as improve the maintenance of
existing houses. Some MHC tenants with the help of
the Consumers Association of Malawi challenged the
increase of the rentals in court.

In his ruling, Justice Duncan Tambala ordered that the
tenants be credited the rents paid since April 1 last
year. MHC chairperson Mrs Joyce Banda said following
the ruling the parastatal would have to lay off staff
and suspend most of its contruction projects.

9. National soccer coach dismissed

National soccer coach, Reuben Malola has been dismissed.
The verdict to fire him was made at a meeting held
on April 30 and attended by officials from the Malawi
National Council of Sports (MNCS) and the Football
Association of Malawi (FAM).

At the meeting it was unanimously agreed that Malola's
performance with the national soccer team had not been
impressive. The national team has been losing game
after game due to what is believed to be a result of
poor coaching. "Malola had run out of ideas,"
said a FAM official who asked for anonymity. The straw
that broke the camel's back was Malawi's 4-0 defeat
at the hands of Zambia on 12 April in the Africa Castle
Cup competition.

A source at the MNCS said it was only by sheer luck
that Malola remained coach of the national soccer team
as a decision to fire him had already been made sometime
in February but he was spared the axe by Malawi's 2-0
win against Mozambique in the Africa Cup of Nations
in February. This is the second time that Malola has
been fired as coach of the Malawi National soccer team.
He was last given the boot as national team coach in
1989 when Malawi lost 4-0 to Zimbabwe. Malola later
had a stint with a leading Kenyan soccer team which
he coached for four years.

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In reference to an article
that appeared in Malawi News Online #28, entitled COMESA
SECRETARY GENERAL DISMISSED, Africa News Network prints
a letter from Peter Mutharika and a press release from
Dr. Bingu Mutharika:

1. In Malawi News Online # 28 you carried in item
# 8 that COMESA Secretary General had been dismissed.
As the forwarded press release shows, Dr. Mutharika
was not dismissed. He resigned. The story that he had
been dismissed was obviously promulgated by those elements
in Malawi who are believed to be behind Dr Mutharika's
difficulties at COMESA I would appreciate if you would
correct the story in your next issue. Peter Mutharika..

2. Press release: I announce that I have resigned
as Secretary General of COMESA effective 17 April 1997.
My decision to step down has been taken following the
recent developments at the secretariat of COMESA in
Lusaka. I am very happy, however that allegations made
against me for financial mismanagement or impropriety
could not be substantiated.This is because there had
been no financial mismanagement in the first place.
Therefore I am leaving this organisation with my head
high and with honour and dignity. I have served my
term of office as COMESA Secretary General with distinction
,dedication, competence and integrity. COMESA has now
established a well-proven track of success. COMESA
is now being emulated by other regional economic groupings.
I am deeply satisfied with the regional framework which
COMESA has been able to achieve under my leadership.
I have developed PTA and later COMESA to the highest
standards of regional cooperation and integration.
COMESA now has a clear vision, a clear mission and
a clear sense of direction.I was also able to develop
a political consensus among the Heads os State that
the common market offers a viable alternative for sustained
growth and development of our countries. COMESA is
truly an organisation of African people,executed by
Africans for the benefit of African people. Another
matter of great satisfaction for me has been the consensus
and compact which I have promoted between COMESA and
the donor communities, international organisations
and the private sector. These organisations now play
a positive role in regional economic integration in
Eastern and Southern Africa. For instance. when I came
to PTA in 1991, the total aid package of PTA was only
about US$12 million. By 1996, this had risen to over
US$100 million.I therefore believe a sound framework
has been created for COMESA to work positively with
the donor communities in the future. I pay tribute
to all donors who are supporting COMESA. My greatest
reward is that COMESA is a reality and is viable. Since
taking over its leadership, the volume of intra-COMESA
trade rose to nearly US$2 billion and has been growing
at an annual rate of over 10 per cent.Tariffs have
largely been reduced by the majority of the member
states and many non-tariff barriers have been abolished.Trade
information systems have been implemented and inter-country
transit facilitation measures are in place. I now
take this opportunity to publicly express deep appreciation
to the COMESA Heads of State and Government and, to
the COMESA Council of Ministers , for having given
me the opportunity to serve as their Secretary General
for the past six years. More specifically, for the
various Heads of State who served as Chairmen of COMESA
during my tenure I owe them a deep sense of gratitude
for their guidance and support for me. I also wish
to thank the Government and people of Zambia for cooperating
with me during the past six years and for making me
feel at home here in Zambia. The support of the Government
of Zambia made my task much easier and indeed very
pleasant. I pledge that I will continue to promote
and support COMESA in future. Dr. Bingu Mutharika
Lusaka Zambia 17 April 1997
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